George Jetson
| George Jetson | |
|---|---|
| The Jetsons character | |
| First appearance | Rosey the Robot |
| Created by | William Hanna & Joseph Barbera |
| Portrayed by |
George O'Hanlon (1962-1989) Jeff Bergman (1990-present) Wally Wingert (Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law) Skeet Ulrich (2009; Robot Chicken) Robert Kazinsky (2013; Robot Chicken) |
| Information | |
| Aliases | George J. Jetson |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | digital index operator |
| Family | Montague Jetson (grandfather) |
| Spouse(s) | Jane Jetson (wife) |
| Children |
Elroy Jetson (son) Judy Jetson (daughter) |
George J. Jetson[1] is a fictional character from the animated television series The Jetsons. He is the father of the Jetson family. He is the husband of Jane Jetson and the father of teenage daughter Judy and elementary school aged son Elroy.
Fictional character biography
George resides with his family and his dog Astro in the Skypad Apartments[2] in Orbit City, in a future with the trappings of science fantasy depictions of American life in the future, such as robot servants, flying saucer-like cars, and moving sidewalks. All the apartment buildings are set on giant poles, resembling Seattle's Space Needle; the ground is almost never seen,in Jetsons: the Movie, it is revealed that they live in the sky due to excess of smog.
When George was a child, he had to fly through ten miles of asteroid storms to go to Orbit High School, where he was the star pitcher of its Spaceball team. George is now an employee at Spacely's Space Sprockets, a manufacturer of "sprockets" and other high tech equipment. His job title is "digital index operator."[3] His boss is Cosmo G. Spacely, noted for being short in both height and temper; Spacely usually treats his employees (particularly George) in a rather tyrannical fashion. George's job primarily requires him to repeatedly push a single button (or on occasion a series of buttons) on a computer (named RUDI {Short for: Referential Universal Digital Indexer} in the 1980s series of Jetsons episodes). In one of the episodes, George complained of his heavy work load- having to push a button for one hour, two days a week. Often, Mr. Spacely will fire George in a fit of anger, only to hire him back by the end of the same episode.
Physically, George is a rather slim man of average height with short red hair and a cartoonishly large nose. His personality is that of a well-meaning, caring father, but he is often befuddled and stressed out by the problems of both his work and family lives. As with most Hanna-Barbera productions of the 1950s and early 1960s, George Jetson was modeled after a contemporary celebrity; in George's case, it was character actor George O'Hanlon, who also voiced (and granted his name to) the character. O'Hanlon was well-known for his roles as a common everyman (his best-known role outside of The Jetsons was the Joe McDoakes film series) and once said of his character: "George Jetson is an average man. He has trouble with his boss, he has problems with his kids, and so on. The only difference is that he lives in the next century."[4]
Catchphrase
George's most famous catchphrase is "Jane! Stop this crazy thing!" seen at the end credits of the 1960s Jetsons episodes, but is also known for frequently uttering the phrase "Hooba-dooba-dooba!" or "Hooba-Dooba" (in most episodes) to express wonder or astonishment (possibly inspired by Fred Flintstone's phrase "Yabba-dabba-doo!").
Portrayer
George O'Hanlon was the voice actor who did George's voice in both the sixties and eighties versions of the cartoon series. O'Hanlon last did the voice for George Jetson in Jetsons: The Movie, which was released posthumously.
The current voice of George Jetson is Jeff Bergman, who voiced George (and also Mr. Spacely) in some parts of the movie after O'Hanlon's death, and also voiced George in The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera as well as for the cameo in the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Shaggy Busted" and Spümcø's two Jetsons cartoons: Father & Son Day and The Best Son.
In the Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episode "Back to the Present", George was voiced by Wally Wingert. In the episode, the Jetsons return to the past to sue the planet for causing global warming.
Other appearances
George Jetson also appears at the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company and formerly Universal Studios Florida as a meetable character seen in 1996 video called "Kids for Character".
Jetson also appeared in a brief, silent cameo in an episode of Fantastic Max, alongside Space Ghost & The Great Gazoo.
George Jetson, along with his family, Rosie, and Mr. Spacely can be seen in a MetLife commercial in 2012.
George Jetson appeared in a vintage 1960's Mister Softee commercial as a father.
George also made a few cameo appearances on episodes of Family Guy, The Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter's Laboratory.
References
- ↑ "Jetsons, The (1962) - TV Series - Season 1, Episode 2". Database of Movie Dialogs. BelaZebra. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
What's your name, speedy? George J. Jetson. George Jetson, eh? Well, Georgie, let's see what we got here.
- ↑ "Jetsons, The (1962)". Database of Movie Dialogs. BelaZebra. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
Car 88 calling in. What's up, sarge? Investigate complaint of trouble over at the Skypad Apartments. Right, Sarge. I'm on my way.
- ↑ Holt, Patrick D. (July 2009). The Information Society in Science Fiction (PDF) (Master of Science in Library Science thesis). School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. p. 52. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
Although George Jetson does commute to work as a “darn good digital index operator” (a job that apparently involves push the buttons that start and stop the procedure), the rest of the Dyson/Bel Geddes vision is complete – to no avail. Just about everything is automated, but no one seems aware that life is easier...
- ↑ "George O'Hanlon; Father's voice on Jetsons". Los Angeles Times. February 14, 1989.